encryption and fhe

Hey guys, I don’t know how we got here but we’re here 🫡 

I’ll share my research into: encryption and FHE.

It’s tech-heavy but you know me - my specialty is in making things relatable & easy to understand.

Thankfully, my IQ is still the same so the writing will reflect that (i.e. easy to read).

Btw this was just day 1 of research 💀 💀 

Anyway, This is the agenda.

1. What is encryption

   a) basics + example

2. FHE
   b) positives + negatives

What is encryption?

Encryption is a process where you use lots of math to scramble information. That ensures that only a person with a specific key can access the information

How I understand it:
The fact that there is information - visible.
The actual information - invisible to everyone BUT the person with the key.

And how does encryption work?

Honestly, I don’t know and it doesn’t seem like I should care. All I know is that it envolves math. If you fancy reading in more depth, here’s a link (google cloud)

Why is encryption important?

Encryption ensures:

• data security: encrypting credit card details prevents them from being stolen in case of a data breach

• privacy & secure communication: end-to-end encryption in messaging apps (eg telegram has it)

• compliance: encrypting payment data to meet security standards

• regulation: encrypting customer data meets GDRP requirements

• and many many more

In a nutshell, without encryption: your data = our data

Ok ok, what we know so far

1/ What encryption is
2/ Why it’s important
3/ The world without encryption

Ready to level up some more??

What is Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)?

Lemme start with an example.
It’ll show you the problem FHE is solving.

My special-made glasses = FHE.

^ But don’t worry about that. Let’s start with the basics.

We need to understand computation 👇️ 

Let’s say that computation = working with data 👍️ 

Here’s how things normally happen when working with encrypted data.

1. You decrypt (reveal) the data

   a) exposes the data to risks

2. You do the work (i.e. computation)

3. You encrypt (protect) the data back again

4. You encrypt your work (i.e. the computation)

What does FHE allow you to do?

FHE allows you to run computations on encrypted data, without needing to decrypt (reveal) the data. Also, your computation (i.e. work) is already encrypted (protected).

So what does the process look like thanks to FHE?

1. You decrypt (reveal) the data

   a) exposes the data to risks

2. You do the work (i.e. computation)

3. You encrypt (protect) the data back again

4. You encrypt your work (i.e. the computation)

That’s right.
When you have FHE, you just do the computational work.

Why that’s important:

• less risk (data isn’t exposed)

• saves costs (you can outsource computation)

• FHE is also quantum-resistant (more secure)

The screenshot below is a bit technical but please read it.

I’ll help you make sense of it 🤝 

Two terms to define here:

So far so good.

Why is FHE important?

It allows companies to extract value from data without revealing it.

This maintains privacy and also ensures that regulations are not violated.

So now we know what FHE is + how it works.

But it can’t all be rainbows and sunshine, right?

The drawbacks of FHE

NOTE: I’m not an expert at FHE.
The list below is a slightly simplified version of the article by Halborn (blockchain security co).

Performance overhead: encryption and decryption is more computationally expensive compared to other encryption algorithms.

Large ciphertext size: this can be problematic for blockchain apps where block space is already at a premium

Lack of standardization: it's a less mature type of encryption and lacks the same standardized, usable algorithms.

Complex algorithms: can be difficult to implement for various applications.

And here’s a screenshot from Fhenix (an FHE powered L2)

And for good measure, I also asked chatGPT about the drawbacks and you can find the answer HERE.

To top it all off, I created a doc showing how things would be done with and without FHE - it shows how FHE is revolutionary.

Ok cool.

By now you should have a better idea of the significance of FHE.
(I appreciate your curiosity btw!)

There’s much more I can add but want to keep this short🫡 

If you like staying on top of the Privacy sector in web3, I started curating this.